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Down for 24 to 48 -- back ASAP

Thu, 12/25/2008 - 21:27 — Winter

I have to be away for a couple of days, perhaps a bit less. I will rejoin you when conditions become more favorable; in the meantime please behave yourselves.

Comments

Sat, 12/27/2008 - 16:45 — McJ
McJ's picture

Ahmadinejad 2008 Christmas Message

Britain's Channel 4 TV broadcast Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's Christmas message and it has caused a flurry of condemnation and protest. I listened carefully to what he said and I couldn't come up with any 'sane' (or non Orwellian) reason why British MP Philip Davies, a Friend of Israel, could characterize this message as "completely unacceptable on every level". http://www.redress.cc/global/pjballes20081227

Indeed, Ahmadinejad's message stands in stark contrast to the horrors taking place this Christmas season in the Gaza Ghetto.
Christmas 2008: Hell in the Holy Land
http://www.chris-floyd.com/component/content/article/1665-christmas-2008...
Mangled bodies, wailing relatives at Gaza hospital
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_world/view/398812/1/.html

Iranian President Ahmadinejad 2008 Christmas Message Speech

"I set it down,
That one may smile, and smile, and be a villain..." -- Shakespeare, Hamlet, I, v

Sat, 12/27/2008 - 17:11 — McJ
McJ's picture

Spinmeisters at work

Here are some prime examples of spinmeisters and PTBs at work downplaying Israel's latest barbarous action in the Gaza Ghetto. Note how in almost all these examples the victim is blamed first and foremost.

World powers call for end to violence after Gaza air strikes
Posted: 28 December 2008 0007 hrs
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_world/view/398808/1/.html

"Middle East envoy Tony Blair deplored the "tragic of loss of life," and called for an end to rocket attacks from Gaza and Israel's air strikes."
"French President Nicolas Sarkozy said he "strongly condemns the irresponsible provocations which led to this situation as well as the disproportionate use of force."
"The United States urges Israel to avoid civilian casualties as it targets Hamas in Gaza," US National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe said in Waco, Texas, as US President George W. Bush closed out 2008 on his ranch.
"Hamas must end its terrorist activities if it wishes to play a role in the future of the Palestinian people," Johndroe said.
"German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier who told Hamas to "immediately and definitively end its unacceptable rocket attacks against Israel."
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said he was "deeply concerned" about the situation in Gaza, adding he understood "the Israel government's sense of obligation to its population."

It sounds much different like this:

"Middle East envoy Tony Blair deplored the "tragic of loss of life," and called for an end to the Israeli air strikes in Gaza and rocket attacks from Gaza."
"French President Nicolas Sarkozy said he "strongly condemns the disproportionate use of force which led to this situation as well as the irresponsible provocations ."
"The United States demands that Israel stop killing civilians as it targets Hamas in Gaza," US National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe said in Waco, Texas, as US President George W. Bush closed out 2008 on his ranch.
"The Israeli government must end its military activities in Gaza if it wishes to play a role in the future of the Israeli people," Johndroe said.
"German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier who told Israel to "immediately and definitively end its unacceptable air strikes against Gaza."
"British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said he was "deeply concerned" about the situation in Gaza, adding he didn't understand "the Israel government's punishment of the Gaza population.""

"I set it down,
That one may smile, and smile, and be a villain..." -- Shakespeare, Hamlet, I, v

Sun, 12/28/2008 - 01:03 — ICGREEN

Spun glass.

Smooth as glass, McJ. A person would have to be paying attention rather than just skimming the news. Makes all the difference in the world, though.

Sun, 12/28/2008 - 03:41 — McJ
McJ's picture

The spin moves into high gear

I really don't know what to do with the anger I feel about this and reading the slick pro-Israel spin on this is just vomit inducing. I imagine that once one becomes aware of the propoganda and message control in our media these things begin to jump off the page and start beatin on ya. sad

I was just reading over at Uruknet the horrid details of this attack.
http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m49989
http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m49991

"At 11:30 AM, as Gaza's schools ended their morning shift and children were walking home or to school for the afternoon shift, 60 Israeli aircraft launched over 100 tons of missiles and explosives at around 40 targets across Gaza. This original wave took no more than three to five minutes."

"The targets were mostly police stations, and the most striking image is that of dozens of new cadets lying dead on top of each other at Gaza City's main police station. They had been taking part in their graduation ceremony. I want to make a point here lost on many Western news agencies: the police force in Gaza is not the 'Hamas police'.

"The strikes continued. 2 hours after the first wave, the death toll had risen to 150. By sunset, it had reached 170. By the end of the day, after police stations, family homes, mosques, apartment blocks and workshops had been attacked, the ever increasing death toll had climbed to 200."

"During Bloody Saturday in Gaza, The people had to pick through body parts in order to identify their loved ones."

"..over 205 people had been killed and more than 750 people were also wounded during the Israel Air Force strikes and crimes. Many critically injured were transferred to Egypt, which has opened its sealed border with Gaza, to allow transferring the wounded people for medical treatment in the hospitals. The wounded were being transported in inhuman way in trucks according to witnesses."


When I noticed this post on Global Research:
Israel to mount emergency international PR effort in wake of Gaza campaign
by Barak Ravid
Global Research, December 27, 2008
Haaretz
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=RAV20081...
Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni on Saturday instructed the Foreign Ministry to take emergency measures to adapt Israel's international public relations to the ongoing escalation in the Gaza Strip.
Livni instructed senior ministry officials to open an aggressive and diplomatic international public relations campaign, in order to gain greater international support for Israel Defense Forces operations in the Gaza Strip.
Israel launched Saturday morning the start of a massive offensive against Qassam rocket and mortar fire on its southern communities, targeting dozens of buildings belonging to the ruling Hamas militant group. Advertisement
...Livni instructed ministry officials currently on vacation in Israel to return immediately to their posts abroad, and to immediately mount public relations campaigns in their station countries, focusing on local media and public officials.
In addition, Israeli officials stationed abroad have been put on high alert.
Livni will hold a series of talks with foreign officials in the coming days, in which she will attempt to explain the rationale for the expanded IDF operations in the Gaza Strip.
The Foreign Ministry is also looking to recruit speakers of foreign languages, in particular Arabic, Italian, Spanish, and German, in order to expand Israel's public relations campaign with the representatives of foreign media outlets currently in Israel.
An international media broadcast outlet will be opened in Sderot on Sunday, and the Foreign Ministry will organize a series of tours of Sderot and the Gaza envelope communities for foreign media and diplomatic figures.
Speaking in English at a press conference Saturday, Livni said Israel "expects the support and understanding of the international community, as it confronts terror, and advances the interest of all those who wish the forces of peace and co existence to determine the agenda of this region."

That last paragraph says it all. What chance do you think there is to stop this? The 'civilized' nations and their leaders will be falling all over themselves to support these war criminals.

"I set it down,
That one may smile, and smile, and be a villain..." -- Shakespeare, Hamlet, I, v

Sun, 12/28/2008 - 15:06 — littlehorn

Ha ha ha

The forces of "peace and coexistence." Well I'm going to my basement now. I need to laugh my ass off for a few days.

Also, isn't this Livni the daughter of that terrorist guy ?

PS: So long as I can edit this thing, the Livni bullshit reminds me of that Onion article. One quote maybe:
"I was upset at first when a bomb destroyed my school and killed many of my schoolmates and left me without legs," said Tyre bombing victim Sherifa Ayoub, 14, as she wheeled down her rubble-strewn street. "But as the days went on, and the bombs continued to fall, I began to realize that I had spent my whole young life arbitrarily lashing out at a people I thought I hated, when, all along, what I really hated was myself."

Israel's crushing victory has led Talbott and other Mideast experts to speculate that the nation may go on to bomb the anti-Semitism out of such hostile neighbors as Syria, Saudi Arabia, and Yemen.

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